Where we Overlap
Where We Overlap is a participatory project that combines an immersive video installation with a sensory play space for families. Adults and children are invited to explore and create together within a world of light projections and loose parts.
The title Where We Overlap refers to both the parent–child relationship and the physical overlapping of bodies and shapes as participants collaborate in play.
Video Installation
My animations illustrate moments of shared wonder and discovery between a parent and child. Within dreamlike landscapes, the figures are revealed and transformed by cycles of nature. A family is thrown into the wilderness after a birth, with both parent and child traversing completely new life experiences together. This work investigates that strange and sacred territory, and the push and pull of deep familiarity alongside an enduring mystery of the other.
Most early years spaces prioritise entertainment or development for children, while overlooking the creative inner life of parents and carers. This project is designed to support both. The video installation speaks to the emotional landscapes of caretaking, with scenes illustrating moments of attachment, separation, wonder, anxiety, curiosity, exhaustion, and love.
Loose Parts Play
Loose parts play centers on open-ended materials that can be engaged in countless imaginative ways. Within the play space participants will encounter a field of objects, some recalling motifs from the animations and others entirely abstract. The pieces and parts invite building, moving, balancing, problem-solving and collaborating. The animations expand these possibilities further, offering visual fragments that can be echoed and extended through storytelling with loose parts.
Model
Where We Overlap is developed as a facilitated pop-up exhibition for cultural centres in Oxford. This project draws on my professional experience leading the Make Play project at Modern Art Oxford, which is grounded in a Reggio Emilia approach, and my experience as an art teacher in a Montessori school.
Both Reggio Emilia and Montessori philosophies recognise the child as naturally self-directed and capable. Both position the environment as an active participant in learning, or "third teacher." I believe that adult creativity can be nourished with the same ethos, within an environment that grants permission to play and reconnect with their own inner child. These principles shape the installation as a carefully prepared yet fully open-ended space.
